Featured Creature: Everything's Fine

"Samantha!  Oh My God!  You disappeared!  Where where you?"  I rushed to hug her.  "Are you okay?"

"Everything's fine."  She smiled at me.  she was stiff in my embrace, her breathing shallow.

"Thank Goodness."  I pulled back but kept a comforting hand on her shoulder.  "I was worried."  She continued to smile.

"Come on, let's get out of here."  I moved towards the open door, but Samantha did not move.  She continued to smile at me.

"Everything's fine."

"Samantha?"  She was shaking slightly and her smile stretched into a rictus.
One of her eyes twitched unpleasantly.

"Everything's fine.  Everything's fine.  Everything's fine."

A trickle of blood crossed from her nose to her mouth.  That was when the creature broke out of the back of her spine.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}